Chapter Text
part 1, before dark
The woods had long gone silent since the dimness settled in. Still shadows unmoved as the moon loomed below the horizon, not yet above the trees, not yet anything but a peaking light from behind the curves of the earth ahead. The air was humid as the day’s rain still lingered in the atmosphere. Vegetation thriving and sparkling in the final light of the sun that would soon shine only from the reflected illuminance of the full moon. It was quite cold as the man moved rapidly through the leafed branches, almost stumbling with every step, backpack weighing him down and slowing his pace. He’d have to get back to his base before the inevitable nightfall took over and let the monsters roam invisible from the human eye. The ground crunched and sloshed when one foot was quickly put in front of the other, his breathing exhausted and struggled, thick layer of clothes uncomfortably soaked and heavy and his legs tired from walking all day.
“Just 20 more minutes and I’ll be there if I can jog a bit longer” thought Shiro when sweat drippled down his face.
He could tell his axe was slipping as it couldn’t fit in the backpack properly due to having overloaded with gear and supplies. He thought he’d have to adjust this sooner or later but could only keep up the velocity as someone was waiting for him.
Just three days before now, Shiro had left his partner for a longer supply run, as the guy couldn’t travel as far as Shiro due to him, well, having chunks out of his legs missing and overall being incapable of moving with efficiency. Shiro knew his buddy missed him dearly, he did so too, and could only think of their reunion and how the relief would wash over them both when they finally embraced each other again. He knew the area was safer than the ones they had previously inhabited due to the lack of humans, so he wasn’t concerned for his partner’s wellbeing. The only downside was the long travels for food and other supplies. Fortunately, they had found a place to settle in where a large creek provided fish and other aquatic creatures to feast on. They were also growing different vegetables and water was provided by the watercourse. Hunting was time consuming and ineffective, but once a meal was successfully acquired, they could rest for a day or two. Shiro had found himself a bigger backpack than what he had used during the majority of the apocalypse, and so had given the old one to his companion. They didn’t have to go search for supplies as often anymore, but on the other hand it was much more exhausting and time consuming to do so now.
Shiro stared ahead, his path getting more and more narrow as the trees grew closer and grass got longer. But to his relief, he could see an opening, a meadow without a maze of branches on his way. He was almost at the edge of the meadow when suddenly his ankle got caught in tangled grass and he stumbled forward, but his hands found a tree to hold on to stop the fall. He felt the tips of his fingers scrape the wood and felt how painfully the bark dug into his skin. His grip of the tree wasn’t strong enough to stop the fall however, and let his body hit the wet bushy ground with thankfully now reduced force. Shiro’s lungs lost air when he finally landed with a huge thud, and he painfully groaned as he now laid down on his right side. The backpack had weight him down. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and hoped it would only bruise. He had dislocated his shoulder before, and so he wished it hadn’t happened again. He stood up to sit and instinctively used his unhurt arm to check if the other one was in good shape. He didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, and figured he could move the aching limb, although it hurt to do so. He breathed a sigh of relief and caught his breath. He glanced behind to see what had caused the fall, and noted that he would be more careful in such terrain from this moment on. He also saw that his axe had fallen in the mishap, and it was now laying next to him, not quite in arm’s reach.
part 2, below the moon
After calming himself down Shiro shifted his legs into a position where he could get up by using as little of his sore arm as possible. He hoped nothing had broken in the backpack as losing supplies wasn’t good for survival out there. He used his uninjured arm to push himself up as the backpack wanted to bring him back down and his legs were too tired to do the job on their own when his ears caught a deafening howl from the woods ahead. Shiro froze in shock as the sound echoed around him, the unholiness of it lingering even after the sound had ended. Shiro was panicking.
“What in the name of hell was that… that didn’t sound like an animal! What if some freak is out there using some ancient instrument to scare people? No no no there’s no people around and that sound would only attract zombies.” He thought so as he estimated the location from where the sound originated from and turned his gaze upon the meadow. The light of day had slipped away, now replaced by the moon peaking from behind the trees. It was night, and Shiro wasn’t able to move anymore. It would only take 15 more minutes to get back to base but that thing was in the way. He shivered slightly as the realization kicked in. He couldn’t do anything, not even stay still. He slumped back down and crawled to get his axe, but to his horror a huge animal appeared from the woods and now was running at his direction through the meadow. As he got closer to the weapon, he could hear the thing rushing towards him with unfathomable speed. Shiro reached out his left hand for his axe and got a grip of it but the animal had reached him already and lunged, Shiro, now horrified, used his right arm to block the monster’s teeth from getting to his throat. He let out a painful shrieky wail, a sound only made due to pure agony and distress. Blood started gushing out of his arm as the dark brown canid dug deep into the flesh, reaching the bone. Simultaneously Shiro swung the axe instinctively at the bloodthirsty beast and managed to land a major hit it in its jugular. It let go of his arm and made a boisterous, vociferous roar of pain and misery. The huge behemoth of a canine jumped back and wailed as it retreated and ran to the opposite direction from where it had appeared. It was gone just as fast as it arrived and left nothing but a trail of blood and an injured man behind it.
Despite the shock, Shiro acted quickly and took his jacket off and rolled up his bloodied hoodie sleeve to assess the damage. The wound was deep and blood was rushing out in dangerous amounts as he took bandages from his pant pockets. These wouldn’t be enough to stop the bleeding but he put them on anyway, and wrapped them as tightly as possible. Shiro remembered picking up some useful first aid items and struggled to take off his backpack due to the discomfort, he opened the button latch to look for those items. He scrambled a bit to find a first aid kit but dug one out successfully, as it wasn’t deep inside the backpack, or behind many other items. He acquired himself a tourniquet which he struggled immensely to wrap around the arm below his shoulder. Clumsily, but successfully he had put it on, and now he had done what he could. Moreover, he had a sliver of relief as he knew he wouldn’t bleed out. He was shaking and horrified, in pain and greatly injured in the darkness. Worst of all, he was alone. He cried within silence from the pain the wound caused and the thought that the creature might come back, or even worse, bring more of them with it. He also knew he could possibly come across zombies, as he reeked of blood. They’d totally smell him from miles away and find him in the darkness. All he could do is stay put and soundlessly weep. Moving now wasn’t a good idea.
Shiro was cold and alone as he struggled to stay conscious. The bleeding still continued but he’d live, it had slowed down significantly. Still, he was tired and something felt wrong. Suddenly Shiro heard a twig snap and something bipedal walk from somewhere in the meadow. Shiro now alert and ready to defend himself, picked up his axe again, crawled forward to see the intruder and prepared to swing, if necessary, but lowered the weapon as he heard the thing call out.
“H-heyy! … You theere? … Sh- Shirroo?” The familiar voice made him perk up; he struggled to get up to approach the zombie calling out for him. Shiro clumsily began to tread towards the meadow where he saw his dearest zombie bud. As their gazes met each other, the zombie started running towards the injured human. Shiro poorly reciprocated the act and they collided into a big warm hug. Shiro couldn’t say a thing as he could only weep from relief and the traumatic experience he had just gone through.
“Wha- what happened...?” The zombie spoke unusually clearly, but quickly covered his mouth as he started to lose control over his drooling. It was just a natural reaction zombies have to blood, but of course he didn’t want to accidentally infect his loved one. Shiro coughed and sobbed but suddenly realized the nature of the zombie he so incautiously had thrown himself at, and let go to take a few steps back.
“Shit! Sorry I shouldn’t have- ack do you... you don’t want to eat me, right?” Shiro felt senseless, who would hug a zombie while bloodied up.
“No! No, I feel f-fine, I don’t- I won’t hurrt youu, grr-I promise” the zombie stammered somewhat reassuringly.
“Right, he isn’t just a zombie… he’s my sweet zombie guy” Shiro thought as he couldn’t help but see the zombie as nothing but the only thing that kept him sane in this wretched apocalypse.
“I think I got attacked by some animal, it just- … it just bit me, I should be fine” Shiro didn’t know why he said that, he did not know if he was actually going to be okay. But the zombie’s presence made everything seem like things were going to be alright.
“We should get back to our base, I made a fire to cook something earlier so it should be warm there too.” The zombie gestured towards the direction of the base.
“Y-yeah... I um... Could you help me carry my stuff? I think I’m too injured to carry it all by myself.” Shiro frowned and couldn’t look the zombie in the eyes, he was too hurt and knew the zombie was feeble so it would be hard for the both of them. He didn’t want to come off as too debilitated however so decided to glance anyway, but not entirely towards the undead man.
“Of course! They’re in those bushes, right? Let’s go get them!” the zombie smiled and dashed towards the bloody mess. Shiro turned to the scene and watched as the zombie struggled to lift the huge backpack on to his shoulders.
“I got it, don’t worry!” The zombie grunted as he finally got the heavy mass onto his back.
“See?” The zombie grinned reassuringly.
“I can carry my axe and jacket” Shiro said as he walked towards the scene and reached down to pick up the items. Everything felt heavy and breathing was harder than usual.
“We can get going now, I think I can make it” he said even though he wasn’t sure if he could, but staying put wasn’t a great idea in the slightest. So, they turned their direction to the base and begun their hike.
The meadow was the easiest part of the way to base, despite the long and thick grass making stepping harder for the duo. Once they entered the woods, they had to dodge branches and watch their step. The darkness made it more difficult, but they could see ahead because of the moonlight. They had been making good distance, and it wouldn’t be long until they reached the base. Shiro’s vision was blurrier than usual and he was quite thirsty.
“You look pale, do you need anything?” asked the zombie walking next to him on the right.
“I am a bit thirsty… how can you tell? Its so dark out here.” He said questioningly.
“You really don’t look great” the zombie answered as he tried to reach the backpack’s side pocket where the water was put. He wrangled the bottle out of the pocket and handed it to the sickly man struggling to walk next to him. Shiro took the bottle into the hand on his injured side, but as he was holding his axe in his good hand, he couldn’t open it.
“Could you open it, please?”
“Ah! Yeah sorry” and the zombie took the bottle back and started twisting the cap.
“Here” the zombie handed the bottle again. Shiro stopped walking so he wouldn’t lose his balance while drinking and took a few small gulps between gasping for air. Then the pair kept going as Shiro handed the bottle back to the zombie.
“You look like you avoid moving your shoulder, so… How bad did the animal actually hurt you? Did it throw you or something?” The zombie asked with curiosity and care.
“No, I fell on it before it attacked, the thing might have just heard me fall and came over to… bite me… To be honest I don’t even know if it was an animal.” Shiro saw the zombie look at him questioningly.
“Ah but I mean of course it wasn’t a person or anything… it just looked… like a big wolf? I mean werewolves don’t exist so… maybe just a mutated dog haha…” Shiro started feeling even more dizzy, maybe he shouldn’t talk so much even if he did pause to breathe between sentences.
“Werewolf? What’s thaaat?” The zombie might have had an idea to what it was, but asked to make sure his speculation was correct.
“Wolf… man. H-hey let’s just walk, … I’m getting… wo-woozy.” Shiro tried to say clearly but slurred a bit as the exhaustion and disequilibrium got worse.
“Don’t worry, we’re almost there” the zombie could tell Shiro was fighting for stability.
“Only a few more minutes” the zombie muttered to the both of them.
part 3, the full moon’s time
It took the pair nearly half an hour from start to finish to arrive at the base due to their slow pace, but had arrived at last. The base, a poorly made construction, was rather large shack near a burnt down building. The place seemed like it wasn’t abandoned long before the apocalypse, so the shack was in good shape and whatever supplies were left behind were still usable. It was truly a well-hidden place as vegetation had taken over any roads that could have possibly led there. The human and the zombie walked in, Shiro laid down carefully to not make the pain in his shoulder any worse, not forgetting to remove off his glasses and shoes. The soft pile of blankets and pillows they had struggled to bring from afar felt more comfortable than ever before. Shiro could barely keep his eyes open anymore as exhaustion finally immobilized him. As he laid down, he felt his entire body ache, his head was spinning, his legs were mush and his arms weren’t any better. Everything hurt. He chalked it up to the days he spent traveling with his heavy backpack and the blood loss he had endured. He noticed his arm was getting blue now so he had to remove the tourniquet, though he feared if he took it off entirely the wound might reopen. But then figured that the bandages he had wrapped around the bite were tight enough to keep the wound under pressure to take the gadget off safely enough. He lifted his left hand to the fastening but didn’t have the energy to twist it out of place.
“Heyy... can you take this off?” Shiro breathed with slight difficulty as if only saying something was an entire work out.
“Oh uhh… h-how?” the zombie looked at the contraption with uncertainty.
“The stick…” Shiro could only mumble as he drifted off to dormancy. Zombie dude took a hold of the stick and figured it was held in place by some triangle, so he took the stick out of it and got startled by the force that the stick spun with. Shiro’s blood started immediately returning to the limb as the pressure lifted, and the zombie could smell it. The sweet metallic scent called to him, it wanted him to taste it, and it didn’t like how the zombie resisted. Or was this just his zombie side trying to convince him that? The zombie stood up and took a few steps back as his thoughts scared him off his companion’s side.
“Maybe I should just stay back… just in case” he thought to himself, hurt that it had to be this way.
Shiro woke up not too long after he fell asleep, the pain had gotten worse somehow. But unlike before, it was not just on his arm and shoulder anymore. He squirmed in agony as his entire body felt like actual hell. Every single one of his muscles were spasming uncontrollably and some of his veins were pulsating nauseatingly. He was coughing up odd colored blood and loudly groaned as the pain only got worse with every second that passed. He cried and wailed out to the zombie, not knowing he had left to clear his head by the nearby stream that would unfortunately muffle the cries that echoed from the shack. Shiro’s bite wound was in bad shape, the bandages were soaked in a foul-smelling liquid that oozed from each individual hole made by the sharp teeth of the beast that attacked him. Shiro couldn’t take it anymore as his mind went deeper into incoherency. Without thinking he stood up, his legs almost giving out even before he could take a single step, but as his bones begun to crack, so did his mind. He walked outside to the rays of the full moon, into the light that was illuminating from it. His eyes turned blood red and his teeth begun to morph into a shape not human. He started coughing and gagging more violently as his stomach couldn’t keep the insides anymore. He turned downwards and threw up whatever he had eaten that day and froze to look at nothing. Did his brain just shut off? Or was he in a trance of sorts? His body reacted to some un-internal force and he turned his face up to the sky again. Now his limbs were contorting and cracking as hair grew on them. Suddenly he could move on his own again, he started screaming and tore off his hoodie, his flesh felt like it was burning and clothes only seemed to worsen it. Whatever little control he had of his mind, he used it to try cooling himself down by removing the fabric around him. He tried not to rip them off but it was no use, his nails were rapidly growing sharper and they dug into his t-shirt slightly tearing it. His pants were a struggle, as Shiro’s legs had morphed into something inhuman making him too unbalanced. Luckily, due to the pants being made of a thicker fabric they came off without ripping, though Shiro had to fall over to get them off. While now crawling on the ground he incoherently threw his clothes away from him like they were full of disgusting bugs or disease. Fortunately, his socks had come off on their own before this since Shiro had squirmed in bed so much. They would have totally been ripped to shreds as his feet became huge paws with razor-like nails. Shiro once again lost any control he had of his mind and more transformation took place, most but not all of his bandages snapped off as he grew to an unholy size, the fur grew thick and long and it was spreading everywhere, his face now stretched and dog-like in appearance. A huge bushy tail erupted out of his tailbone in a huge bloody mess. He was standing on four limbs and his claws dug into the ground as he only kept growing in size. Finally, when he could feel the pain and agony slightly ease up, he wanted to scream, but to his dismay could only let out an animalistic outcry.
part 4, chaos within the dark woods
Earlier when the zombie was still waiting for Shiro to return, he got inpatient as he knew the trip would only take 3 days at most. All of a sudden, he heard a loud roar echo from behind him where Shiro was supposed to come back from. He thought that something extremely bad had happened and panicked, he wondered if Shiro had anything to do with that noise. It was becoming dark as the third day was almost over, so he decided to go look for his precious human. He was scared to move, but the thought of Shiro being in trouble scared him so much he didn’t have a choice but to follow the awful sound. He started running without even thinking of taking any protection with him, he was in a hurry and had to find Shiro as soon as possible. After having to slow down and speedwalk the rest of the way he cautiously approached the area he thought the unknown howl had come from. He was drained and tired, he felt more dead than ever before in his undead life, but he knew he was getting close to where the sound had come from. While rushing he smelled something that made him even more afraid, blood, and this blood smelled way too familiar for comfort. The zombie immediately regained energy and started sprinting to where he knew the smell was coming from. He was frightened and distressed when after what felt like forever came across a woodless area full of flowers and weeds. He smelled the blood so clearly now he could tell he was where the source was, and as he begun to call out for the only person he had ever known and loved. And at last, he had found Shiro, greatly injured, but alive.
The sounds of the water running down the creek were calming as the zombie reminisced the moments and wondered what that thing could have possibly been. It hurt Shiro, he was angry about it. He wanted to find that foul creature and rip it to shreds with his bare hands and jaws. In his head, nobody could hurt Shiro and get away with it. He pouted but then his face turned to horror, he heard it again. Different this time, but clearly the same creature. The howl came from the base, not at all far this time. Zombie rose up from the stump he was sitting on and started running towards the base. He was horrified to have heard the sound again, what if the thing came back to finish the job? Zombie wouldn’t let that happen. He didn’t know how he was going to confront the creature but he’d make sure he didn’t go down without a fight. Zombie ran through the darkness, he couldn’t see well and was running with pure adrenaline but he didn’t stumble. He’d run until his legs were incapable of taking him further, and so he dashed through the forest and moss. He tore through bushes and branches but finally he reached the base. His legs were shaking and his breathing rapid as he took in the stench. It reeked of blood. His blood, now more than before. Zombie stared at the area and witnessed a horror scene of pure nightmare fuel. Blood was in a huge pool in the middle of it all and the human’s clothes were scattered all over the place. Zombie slowly lowered his head and saw Shiro’s white t-shirt with blood on it. Zombie picked it up and his heart sank even further; he noticed huge claw marks on it. He fell on the ground and let out a gut-wrenching cry of nothing but agony and sorrow as he held the torn-up shirt on his arms. He cried and cried, tears and drool falling off his chin like it was endless. Zombie was so angry at letting this happen. He always looked after Shiro, why hadn’t he done it now? Zombie cried out Shiro’s name, waiting for him to show up but to no avail. He kept crying and screaming until his voice could no longer make a sound. He remembered the years of spending time with the love of his undead life, the times they struggled to stay among the living and the times when they had to flee together from everything and everyone. Oh, the moments when they had fun and the days and nights they spent with each other. For minutes he wept, but as the sorrow turned to pure rage, he clenched his fists and growled with fury. He would find that thing that did this, and end it. It had taken the only man who would ever get close to him, and had torn him to shreds. Through his tears he saw Shiro’s pants thrown into a puddle of what was thankfully water, and remembered Shiro carried a gun in his pocket. Zombie laid down the torn shirt and got up to approach the dark green cloth, picked it up and let the water fall for a bit before he found his hand in the correct pocket. He took the gun and moved the pants away from the puddle and found a new place for them. He carefully lowered the clothing to rest on top of a piece of a fence that had yet not collapsed due to the deserted nature of the place. He had a vague idea of how to use a gun, but even just having it felt safe. He wiped the moisture off his face as he entered the shack to fetch Shiro’s axe. After picking it up he stared at the empty and bloodied bed, and shed one more tear before exiting the building, and walked in to the forest with pure unfiltered hatred and determination to end this nightmarish creature once and for all. He hoped to get justice for the innocent man who he thought had been taken away far too soon from him.
Four huge legs trampled through the woods aimlessly, the creature seeming to mindlessly wander without a destination. It jumped over rocks and swiftly passed by trees fluidly as if it had done this for years. The large beast had tears rolling down its cheek fluff, but it didn’t know or seem to even notice that it was crying. The creature was confused as if it was its first time existing in this world, it didn’t know what it was doing and it was stressed and sore. Without a warning it stopped straight in its tracks and listened to its surroundings like a primal instinct just took over, as quiet sounds came from where it had left. It almost turned back, but then it smelled something that called out to it more than the muffled wailing from behind the army of trees. It smelled prey, it didn’t know yet what kind of animal it was, but it wasn’t far. The giant man resembling wolf sniffed the air and turned slightly to its left and sprinted. The wolf reached unimaginable speed to catch up to the animal, but it couldn’t run faster than him as it fled its hiding spot from the shrubbery. The wolfman jumped and reached out his tremendous claws to catch the poor animal which desperately tried to zigzag between trees and bushes, but alas, the unfortunate mammal was grabbed into those huge paws that vaguely resembled hands. The distressed doe squirmed trying to wiggle its way free from the grasp, but could only let out a high-pitched wail as the monstrous wolf lunged its jaws onto its throat and crushed it. Blood spurted out of the animal’s neck followed by silence. The werewolf sniffed the corpse as if to make sure it was dead and determined it to be edible. It repositioned the carcass in a more comfortable to eat position and went for its stomach, biting down hard as blood gushed from every new hole in the poor prey, guts spilling as more were ripped away from it. The wolf quickly tore flesh and tissue into its maw and crunched on the bones it could tear off. The werewolf started to calm down the more he ate, as if he had only been hungry. His face was now covered in blood, and his stomach full. His thoughts seemed to clear up as the realization kicked in. He had eaten a deer, he had fur and he was taller than he used to be, he noticed he was walking on four legs, and he didn’t feel human.
Shiro stared at what remained of the cervid, a skeleton that was missing at the least half of its ribcage, the legs were chewed but not swallowed, and the head was hanging on by a thin strand of skin as the neck was crushed and eaten. Everything else of it was gone, and Shiro shook as he knew where the rest of it was, it had been delicious after all. Shiro began whimpering, which startled him even more as he hadn’t ever made that noise before. He felt awful, not because of the food, but because he was horrified of what he had become. He turned around to see a big bushy tail growing out of his spine, and more fur covering every part of his body. His limbs were long and disfigured, as if they had tried to mimic how a wolf’s are built. His legs were awkwardly extended behind his torso, like how a human would walk on all four limbs. Shiro looked down to his hands and saw huge, bloody and disgusting claws, and seeing them made him squeal. He couldn’t ignore his snout either, it was too long to not notice. His fur kept puffing up as he noticed more things and he arched his back on fearful instinct. His mind rushed and too many thoughts occupied his head; he cried and whimpered but no one was there to comfort him. He wanted safety and someone to reassure him he was okay, but he knew trying to find his zombie wouldn’t help as he’d totally freak out about him. Shiro leapt away from the corpse as if it was screaming at him and stumbled for not looking where he would land, he was clumsy now as he wanted to move how a human would, but couldn’t bring himself up on two legs because of how huge and disfigured he was. He laid on the ground and covered his eyes with what used to be his hands, sniffled and wept, he didn’t want to see himself, he wanted this to be a dream, he didn’t want this to be real. Oh, how he missed zombie, he’d always been there for him when he was feeling low. Why did he have to become this monster?
As Shiro laid on the ground the smell of drying blood made him disgusted. He uncovered his eyes but regretted doing so as all he saw was his bloody muzzle and gory claws. He got up to get away from his paws and loudly puffed an exhale to get rid of the smell. He had to clean himself, but as the urge to lick the viscera away shocked him, he shook his head as if to extinguish the thought. He rose to stand from the sitting position he had taken and carefully took a step forward, and another, and another until he had figured out how to walk on these new limbs. He turned toward where he knew the creek was, but struggled and stumbled on his own legs, he caught himself before he could fall, and started wondering how he had even gotten to where he was. His memory was foggy and he only remembered bits and pieces, but could recall how his legs had moved. What he had just done, was try to move them as two different pairs, but couldn’t yet figure out how to move them as a unit. He tried out moving one limb first, so he tried his left front leg and noticed he instinctually had the urge to move the back legs towards the movement, and lifted them and his other front leg also moved. One after the other his legs moved in unison as he fluidly moved forwards. He didn’t know how he was doing it or if it was even him at all, what if his nerves just did most of the work? He stopped overthinking his movement and just let it happen. The creek was not too far, and with how long his legs were, he was making good travel. Maybe bathing the human way would comfort him.
The zombie traveled the woods as he came across a new smell, faint like animal blood but clear as ever. Zombie picked up the pace and hoped the thing that made the animal bleed was still with it, he could only think of finding the monster and he knew he was on its tracks. He dodged thick branches of leaves and crawled through bush and vegetation. His face occasionally scraped by a branch that swung back to its way. He was covered in dirt as he finally came to the less overgrown area where the carcass laid motionless in a pool of its own fluids. Zombie was horrified by the violently mauled deer and took a better grip of his sweetheart’s axe. The zombie swallowed a clump of disgust, but then noticed how the wet and muddy ground had been pressed down by huge pawprints. He examined the prints and noticed where they had turned. He had noticed the tracks before, but as the ground shifts back to place they were hard to locate. The mud was helping him track this thing down. Zombie walked to the direction of the prints, and saw that the creature had taken a small leap as a few branches were freshly broken and a large pressing on the turf showed the landing spot. The zombie got closer to it and he froze when he smelled something familiar. He lunged at the ground to smell it and he was relieved, he smelled Shiro, not just his blood anymore, him. A million thoughts rushed in his head,
“Why can I smell him, didn’t he get eaten or something? Is he alive? Is that thing just carrying his corpse to taunt me…” Zombie’s eyes faded to red as anger brought bloodlust. He sniffed the air and started to follow the faded scent of old blood, and he too headed towards the creek.
The water made Shiro uncomfortable when he first stepped his paws in it, his fur absorbed it like a sponge making him feel heavier than what he was, but he saw how the blood came off and decided to jump in entirely and dived in the too shallow water. Not even half a second passed as he resurfaced and yelped when he felt cold water get in his ear. He started shaking it off like how a dog would have, but then thought it was weird and just tilted his head to try and make the water drip out on its own. He sat down and let the waist-deep liquid flow past him as he scrubbed his front paws together until he could no longer see the blood. He noticed a few bandages that still wrapped his wrist, the ones that didn’t come off when he grew too big, they were bloody and torn but stayed on by just a few strings. He didn’t want to bother taking them off. Shiro noticed how his front limbs looked slightly more like hands when the fur was wet and not sticking up, and he felt a tiny bit of relief, but even that was short lived as he remembered he now had to properly wash his nose. He stuck his face underwater again and scrubbed until he had to resurface to breathe, and went underwater again just in case he missed anything. Now that he was clean, he didn’t know what to do anymore. Shiro looked up at the stars to see the full moon staring back at him, and then he started thinking.
“What if this is just for the full moon… I will turn back, right?” His eyes teared up again as more thoughts flooded in,
“But what if this is permanent and I’ll be like this forever! What if I’ll never be human again” Shiro turned his head to look at the water, he saw his reflection and growled, he couldn’t recognize himself.
“That’s not me… I don’t know what that is but it can’t be me” He thought that he was dreaming again, as this couldn’t possibly be real. He was just trying to make sense of something thought to be fantasy. Shiro closed his eyes, he tried to wake up from a dream he wasn’t dreaming. He listened to everything he could hear, everything was clearer than ever before. He heard the leaves rustle in the wind, the sounds the water made as it collided with him and the shore, the woods cracking as they bended and swung back and forth. All the things a human could hear but louder. Then he heard something else, something he had feared would happen this whole time. Footprints approaching him from far away, just from where he had come from, and he knew who those belonged to, there was no doubt. Shiro quickly got up and jumped out of the water and violently shook himself to get dry, and only stopped when he couldn’t tell if it was working anymore.
Shiro ran towards the base, he didn’t know why, but the base was comforting so he couldn’t think of any other location. As he arrived, he saw what he had left behind, the pool of red and his scattered clothes were understandably a disturbing sight. Taking a few steps closer to the puddle of blood, he found his shirt. It looked like it had been touched by the way it laid there, Shiro picked it up with struggle as the nails made it hard to get a solid grip. He noticed it had huge holes near the hem and remembered how he got the shirt off of him. He then noticed his pants on the short piece of old fence; he dropped his shirt and hastened to the green clothing. Immediately he noticed how damp they were and hoped his papers were alright, but then he noticed something was missing. He felt around but couldn’t feel his gun in any pocket. Had it flown out when he threw them? Shiro tried to make out if the gun was anywhere on the ground, but couldn’t locate it. Maybe it was in the shack, he thought as he sprinted inside, hitting himself in the doorway as he could barely fit through. The place seemed way too small for him now, and he was cautious to not break anything. He couldn’t see his axe anywhere either, which alarmed him even more, what if zombie had taken them and was looking for him?
“Is he trying to kill me...?” Shiro took a few steps back but flinched when he almost stepped on his glasses, he dodged the eyewear but stepped on something else instead, thankfully it felt soft and unbroken. As he lifted his paw, he noticed the object he had trampled was Vanilla, his beloved bunny plush he got ages ago, the one that had survived many bases and seen lots of different places in the unending apocalypse. Shiro carefully picked it up and clumsily put it to rest on the soft pile of pillows and blankets. He then saw the pile closer up and noticed the blood he left behind on it as well. He felt dread as he realized this really looked like he had died, and thought about what he would say to the zombie if he turned back to human and showed up just fine. Shiro backed off into the outside and ran back into the forest towards the stream, he didn’t know where else to go, and even if the zombie was on his way there and he was armed, Shiro knew he’d try to use the axe first.
“Maybe I could convince him it’s me, its not like he’s ever used a gun before…” Shiro knew there was a chance he’d get shot, but he had become a monster after all, maybe he would be better off dead.
Zombie was tired of walking; he was scuffed and dirty but he was determined to keep going. He saw the creek from behind the leafage and pushed his way through to the waterbed. He sniffed the air and figured he’d have to walk the shore for a bit. As he walked his thoughts rampaged and made him feel miserable. He had let this happen, why couldn’t he just travel with Shiro, why couldn’t he have taken better care of him. If only he didn’t feel bloodlust he wouldn’t have had to leave, him being a zombie had ruined everything, it always had, hadn’t it? He now saw the familiar spot where he and Shiro used to fish and bathe, more memories rushed in but he shut them away, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Something stopped zombie in his tracks as he heard rustling behind him, he swiftly turned around to see a pair of reflective eyes staring back at him. The zombie didn’t think, he rushed at it, axe firmly in his grip as he yelled when the axe was swung at the frightened werewolf, it jumped back and whimpered as if trying to say something. Zombie only saw a foul murderous creature with thick matted and spiky fur, ferocious teeth and life-threatening claws, Zombie dashed and swung again, yelling at the thing to die as tears started to form, blurring his vision. He swung, growled and yelled at the beast but it kept dodging his attacks and making high pitched yelps and whines. Zombie thought it was going to strike with every move it took and so he swung more and more aggressively, but sacrificed precision. His arms were getting tired and he was out of breath so he just threw the axe at the wolf and watched as it effortlessly avoided the hit. It was totally mocking him, wasn’t it? Zombie pulled out the gun from his pocket, aimed it at the whining and whimpering animal and pulled the trigger.
Shiro had trotted through the bushes, he heard the zombie coming from downstream the creek. His heart pounded loudly in his chest; he was so afraid of the zombie seeing him, but was there anything else to be done? He wanted to be seen; he wanted the zombie to recognize him and help him with this torment. Shiro saw him come into view from behind the foliage, holding the axe that went missing from the shack. The zombie was passing by too quickly, he didn’t even notice the huge shape staring at him, so Shiro took a careful step forward to see the disheveled zombie better but his huge size made it impossible to do it quietly, and the bush he was in rustled. He realized his mistake as the zombie saw him and attacked without hesitation while loudly screaming at him. Shiro dodged and tried to say something but all sounds that came out weren’t comprehensible, or even close to speech. He whimpered, trying to say it was him, tried and tried but the more he did the sadder and more desperate he became. He backed off till his tail touched the water and the axe flew past, and then saw exactly what he had feared. He reacted as quickly as he could but he was too slow, a loud bang sounded through the forest, Shiro felt a new wound cause blood to erupt from his right shoulder where the bullet had scraped, he yelped and jumped backwards into the water. The zombie tried to fire again but he didn’t know he had to reload the weapon, it just awkwardly clicked as the undead man tried to get something out of it. Shiro held his left paw over the new wound, it didn’t bleed much but it hurt and knowing it could have hit on a more fatal area was scary. Now he watched as zombie dropped the firearm and leapt towards him, he was surely going to bite. Shiro reached out his right front limb since he was still holding the wound with his dominant one, and pushed the charging zombie. The zombie lost its footing and Shiro couldn’t hold his balance, so as they fell it seemed like he had pinned the zombie to the ground. Zombie landed with a thud and screamed with anger and fear; he thought the werewolf was going to eat him too. The zombie tried reaching the limb to bite but the paw holding him down was too heavy on his chest and the claws dug into him if he thrashed too hard. Zombie could only grip the limb and try to claw at it, but the fur was too thick to actually make it hurt the also thick-skinned creature. Shiro watched helplessly as the zombie he loved tried to desperately flee and attack, tears rolling down his face as zombie’s throat was getting more and more rasped from the visceral growls and screams he was making. Shiro thought of just running off, but suddenly the zombie stopped thrashing and went silent.
part 5, no monster around here anymore
Blood had dripped down on his face from the wolf’s shoulder, where the bullet he shot had hit the animal. The zombie immediately recognized the scent and froze. It was impossible, how was that creature bleeding his human’s blood. Zombie looked more carefully at the creature that had a depressed look on its face, as it started to look more and more familiar. He didn’t know why, but this creature seemed like it wasn’t a monster at all, but a human trapped in the body of one, and he was sure he knew that human. It was in the way it looked at him, the way his eyes stared at his. The zombie glanced at the creature’s leg, the one pinning him down, and noticed torn and dirty bandages on it. The zombie now took a closer look and noticed a wound that matched Shiro’s bite mark under the fur. Could it be possible this was his darling after all? He hadn’t died, just violently changed into this huge beast.
“Shi- … Shiro…?” The werewolf lifted its paw to let the undead free, but he took a firm grip on the furry wrist, thinking it was trying to run away.
“Is that really you?” The zombie realized he had just tried to kill his dear Shiro and started sobbing.
“I’m so sorry! I thought you died!” the zombie threw himself into Shiro’s fur covered chest and just started apologizing over and over. Shiro felt relief wash over him and he returned the hug the zombie was too small to do properly. Shiro could only use one limb as he didn’t want to fall on the smaller body, keeping himself up with his right arm on the wet sand.
The two of them walked back to their resting place, Shiro awkwardly trying to fit himself in the too small shed again. He let the zombie enter first to give him time to find a spot that was out of his way, as Shiro knew he’d be covering the door and making entry more difficult. The zombie quickly noticed he had to find a spot from a corner to let the now huge Shiro inside and not get crushed under him. As the werewolf stepped in, it used his paw to move his backpack into the corner of the shed so he had more space to lay down on. He was tired, not physically but all the emotions he had felt were too much for the mind to handle. He flopped down on his right side, and was surprised that his shoulder didn’t hurt anymore, excluding the new wound. He took a look at the zombie who seemed to examine him, his eyes darting all over him taking in the entirety of his new body. He clearly avoided looking at his face to not alarm the werewolf. The zombie had the most interest on Shiro’s legs and tail, he was almost fascinated by them as his eyes widened with curiosity. Shiro noticed this but didn’t know what to think of it.
“At least he isn’t scared” thought the now calm wolf Shiro.
“Maybe I’ll be okay“.
Zombie stared at Shiro with awe, he had never seen anything like this before, nor had he thought something as such would even be possible. As the werewolf’s fur reflected the light coming from the doorway the zombie saw how soft it looked. Yes, he had hugged him before and he loved the feeling, but he didn’t want to make Shiro uncomfortable, so he just kept on staring at it. Shiro however wanted to be touched, to be comforted and loved without him having to feel like a monster. He glanced at the zombie again and noticed he just kept on staring, so he now turned his head in shame as he sighed and made a small whimper.
“he’d rather just stare… I understand” thought the wolf. The zombie noticed this and felt as if his staring had made Shiro feel even worse than what he obviously felt already.
“Sorry did I do something wrong? I’m not trying to… err… graah sorry.” The zombie didn’t know how to assure the werewolf that he didn’t feel as if he was a threat. Shiro lifted his head to his injured shoulder, it no longer bled, but it stung and he wanted to tend to it. As he got the urge to lick the wound, he just lifted his paw over it in hopes that the pressure would make it easier to ignore. Zombie felt awful, he had shot the only person he ever cared for in hopes the shot would have been fatal. Of course, he hadn’t known it was Shiro, but he still felt like a fool.
“I’m so sorry” he whispered with tears starting to blur his vision again. Shiro winced, stood up, and approached the broken man keeping his head low as if to not startle him. He closed his eyes as he placed his large head on the zombie’s chest, the zombie taken aback but aware of the wolf’s intentions wrapped his arms around the wolf as it whimpered and whined. The zombie could barely keep it together as the wound’s stench was now just in front of him, but as the seconds passed, he calmed down and let the warmth sooth his nerves. Shiro now wanted to get even closer to the zombie and shifted his head over the zombie’s shoulder, took what used to be his arms and wrapped them around the zombie and pulled him closer, slightly lifting him. The zombie made a small sound when his legs no longer touched the ground, but breathed a sigh of relief as his legs were back on the wooden floor and he was now fully against the warm and fluffy creature. The zombie hugged him back.
“You’re okay” the zombie said as he let the fur cover him whole, his voice slightly muffled. He could hear Shiro’s heartbeat, which sounded slightly elevated. Shiro wanted to lay down but wanted to keep the zombie close to him, so he positioned himself in a way where the zombie would not fall in a way that would hurt, and flopped down onto the floor with the zombie. The movement startled the undead man and so he turned around, but couldn’t go anywhere as the huge limbs kept him in place and pulled him down, but didn’t quite let him hit the ground. Shiro had the undead man in his arms, and the zombie sat comfortably against the fluffy creature that was too big for the pile of blankets. Shiro turned his head towards the zombie, completely curling around him and encasing him in an easy to escape fur prison. The zombie thought this was the cutest thing ever, he knew he loved Shiro but didn’t know just how much he did until now. The zombie smiled softly and blushed as he sunk deeper into the warm, fluffy heaven. He’d love Shiro regardless of what he was, and he was sure of it. Shiro noticed the zombie smile and got closer to him, and he too blushed under the fur covering his face. How could a man love you so much it wouldn’t even matter if you turned into a monster? Shiro didn’t even realize that he also loved one, as it had become so normal to him by now.
Shiro wanted to keep laying down with the man snuggled deep in his chest, but the outside was calling to him. He had to move, he couldn’t rest and didn’t know why. He was fidgeting with his paws, the zombie barely noticed this as he was too relaxed and almost dozed off. The zombie just stared at the paws as they did a similar move to how a cat would figuratively make biscuits.
“Could I hold those…?” The zombie just couldn’t resist asking the werewolf and pointed to the cute paws with huge claws.
“Those beans look soooo squishable” Thought the sparkle-eyed zombie as he remembered Shiro call the furless bits in an animal’s feet beans, he thought it was funny when he had said that as they ate beans almost on the daily. Shiro didn’t know what to think as he moved his former hands closer towards the curious man. The zombie reached both his hands towards the raised palm and took the large and soft paw into both of his hands, gently turned the paw-pads towards his line of vision and squished the biggest one. Shiro was stunned as the zombie started to affectionately fondle with his paws. The undead man now pushed himself forward on top of the wolf’s shoulder that covered him, sort of using it as an armrest.
“This is so cute” the zombie whispered with a higher pitch than what he normally spoke with, and this made the werewolf quite embarrassed. He turned his head away from the zombie and frantically tried to look anywhere but at the man playing with him, he blushed so much he bet that it would show even from under the fur covering his whole face, as it was surely burning up like so. The zombie didn’t notice this as he was too invested in squeezing every single one of the cute pads that presented in his hands. It was relaxing, like a fidget toy but much more effective. The zombie now started gently caressing the fur around the pads, making the wolf even more flustered. Shiro wasn’t physically uncomfortable but the was too dumbfounded to just stay still for much longer.
As the zombie was done feeling the paws after what to Shiro felt like an unnecessarily long period of time, he wanted to ask another request.
“Heyyy, Shiro, I kinda want to know what petting you would feel like, because you’re so super fluffy… would it be okay if I did just a few pets?”
“Oh no” was the only thing in Shiro’s mind as he heard the words come out of the zombie. He growled, but realized this could scare the zombie so left it short and let out a whine instead. The zombie understood the noises as a firm no, and felt stupid for even asking as the wolf turned his head away.
“Ah! Sorry, I didn’t think what I was asking would be weird because- well, you know the paws but… Grrergh” zombie put his hands over his face to hide his embarrassment. Shiro realized he had upset the zombie, and felt a bit of guilt. He had let the man explore already, why would this be any different?
“Whatever, this situation is weird anyway, why not let him.” Shiro turned his head and tried to look the zombie in the eyes, trying to signal that his previous answer was no longer what he had to convey. The zombie noticed the werewolf’s gentle gaze as it turned his head closer, and sort of nodded.
“So, I can…?” asked the careful zombie. Shiro didn’t do anything to suggest anything, just kept on staring to let the zombie do whatever he wanted. The zombie turned towards the back of the creature and put his hand to feel it. He slid his hand across the large furry back and remarked how soft it was despite it feeling rough and thick. He now stood up to lean towards the huge wolf and slid his whole arm across its back to feel the entirety of the fur shift under his touch and rise back up when the arm had moved away. It tickled a bit, and so the zombie wanted to do the movement over and over again, but stopped as he noticed Shiro shift his face away from him again. He took a step over the shoulder keeping him on the wolf’s chest, towards the upper part of the body. He sat down next to Shiro’s head, despite the lack of cushioning as the zombie didn’t really need any.
“Are you embarrassed?” the zombie asked as he simultaneously put his hand on Shiro’s head and started petting between his ears. Shiro was a bit startled by the zombie suddenly going for his head, but didn’t move because the feeling was surprisingly nice. Zombie took the lack of retaliation as a sign to keep going and started scratching more intensively.
“You like this?” the zombie dared to ask as Shiro had closed his eyes and started wagging his tail. Shiro couldn’t control his thoughts as the zombie kept scratching, it felt amazing and he loved everything about it. He didn’t even realize that he moved his head towards the zombie, the wolf part of him completely taking over and consuming the man’s last coherent thoughts. He just wanted to be pet now, he felt more loved than ever before. He was so excited he couldn’t control himself anymore, and the zombie noticed this, he was having fun too. The zombie smiled and giggled as his furry boyfriend made sounds that could only be described as a dog purring, the both of them excited as ever. Shiro moved his head upwards and the zombie took this as him wanting to get neck scratches, so he moved away from the ears and cheeks and started vigorously stirring up the neck fur. The wolf made a long and relaxed growl-like sound as its tail wagged even faster now, seeming like the man behind the creature was completely gone now. No man would ever behave this way, and so Shiro came back to his senses. He backed up and left the zombie slightly startled as the giant being dashed outside of the small shack, leaving a bit of a mess behind as the pile of soft cushion was no longer a pile, but scattered all over the floor.
Shiro stood out in the humid yard, his clothes still disheveled and scattered all over the place. He wanted to think of anything else than what had just happened in the shack, as it was too inhuman and utterly embarrassing. He walked towards the partly dry blood puddle and saw how it could reflect him. He just stared at it, thinking, how losing that much blood and the blood he had lost before this would have totally killed a man his size. Or, what size he used to be. He wanted this to be over already; it was too bizarre and unnatural. He did know now that this wasn’t a dream, the slight stinging in his shoulder a constant reminder. The zombie walked next to him, but regretted it as he saw the blood covered gravel and the smell could no longer be ignored. Shiro heard the man’s stomach grumble.
“S-sorryyy…” was all the undead guy could muster to say. Shiro remembered picking up a few packs of ramen on his supply run, and excitedly dashed back to the shack to explore the contents of his backpack. It was easy to open since the latch was just a button that opened when pulled on it, so Shiro quickly got his paws into the bag, and carefully to not break anything or use excessive force, moved the large number of supplies till he found the ramen packs and pulled one out, but dropped it as his grip was like of a scammy claw machine’s. The zombie watched this from the doorway and as the rectangular object fell, and immediately realized what it was.
“No way, you found ramen! Omg can I make it now?” the zombie was ecstatic and had drool dripping down his chin already. Shiro just nodded and moved to the side to let the zombie walk past to the cooking station they had put up in the left corner opposite to the doorway of the shack. Shiro watched as the man put on his designated gloves and reinforced surgical mask, as he was allowed to cook easy things as long as he was wearing those, and took the half empty but large water container and poured some water into a pot, and put the pot onto the small gas-powered stove. Shiro always loved seeing the zombie this excited. If he was a human, he’d totally get close and possibly wrap his arms around him, but that wasn’t possible at the moment. It disheartened the werewolf a bit and a small sigh escaped with his breath. The zombie was almost too deep into preparing the ramen to not notice, but had clocked the small sound. He turned around and looked at the werewolf that wasn’t looking at him. The zombie didn’t know why Shiro was upset again, but thought it might be something about him not being human. The zombie was waiting for the water to start boiling anyway, so decided to get up and approach the big boyfriend of his. Shiro perked up as the zombie pulled him into a hug and pecked him on the cheek, of course not removing his mask. It was like his mind had been read, and he was very pleased the zombie had given him what he wanted. Shiro pushed his head against the zombie, and felt warm as zombie laughed a bit, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He was glad he still had his humanity, even if he looked like an unearthly monster. The water started to boil, and so the zombie dashed to add the ramen into the pot. Shiro decided to go outside again, as the shack was still uncomfortably small for him.
The zombie had finished his ramen and was now cleaning up after himself. Shiro was outside staring at the moon, hoping it would somehow give answers to every unanswered question. It was not long until morning, maybe a bit over two hours. The night had been long and Shiro wanted it to be over, as he wished he’d be human again when the moon disappeared behind the horizon. The zombie came out of the shack, having finished tidying the cooking station, very satisfied by the good meal he had.
“hheeyyy Shiroo, when I was eating a thought occurred, but I don’t know if you’d be up to the thing…” The werewolf didn’t have a single idea to what the zombie was trying to imply, and tilted his head in question.
“You know that one saddle that was left behind here, the one we’re using as a chair?” the zombie was smirking and side-eyeing the large, but not horse shaped Shiro.
“Nu uh” Shiro tried to say but it came out as weird animal sounds, and he backed off from the zombie. He knew exactly what the zombie was trying to say and did not like the idea of being used as a domesticated equine. The saddle in question being a worn-out excuse for a saddle on top of a barrel the either one of them sat to eat on sometimes. The zombie clearly wanted to try it out as, to him, what other proper use of the saddle would they even have? Shiro was again hesitant, sure he had liked what the zombie had previously wanted to do with him, but this just sounded ridiculous. The zombie sneaked up to Shiro and leaned closer to his ears.
“Yolo” whispered the zombie.
“Again, with the words that I taught him? Pfft!” Shiro couldn’t help but scoff. But, fair, what did he have to lose anymore? He sure as hell had lost any and all dignity he ever had.
part 6, as daybreak warmly welcomes anew
“SLOW DOWN PLEASE!! I’M ABOUT TO FALL!” The cries of the undead man clinging, to the back of a huge man shaped wolf, could be heard from the long grasslands what once used to be neatly managed fields. The werewolf wanting to make the ride uncomfortable for the zombie, as this was the most ridiculous thing Shiro had ever agreed to do. He needed to make sure the zombie knew he was not just a big puppy dog to play with, that this man had his own free will. But it was fun for the both of them, zombie knew Shiro wouldn’t get him hurt, at least on purpose, and Shiro could tell that the saddle, even if it was loose, was holding the zombie in place just good enough. They had a bit of trouble putting the saddle on the not so horse-shaped wolfman, but with Shiro’s un-verbal gestures and animal-like barks and growls, the zombie had succeeded in gearing up his very unamused partner. Shiro liked the running, he didn’t know why, but he guessed that it was because of some werewolf thing. He was having fun, though the zombie was tugging his fur a bit, but it was no big deal as his thick skin prevented any fur from painfully ripping off.
“Please… slow down… I think I’m going to throw up” Shiro quickly halted and turned around to look at the zombie in consternation. He didn’t want the zombie vomiting on him so he lowered himself to give the zombie an easier landing. Shiro watched the zombie breathe heavily while kneeling and trying not to empty his stomach, but being prepared for if he did. Shiro moved next to the slightly dry-heaving man, and gently put his paw on his shoulder.
“I’m okay” he said after about a minute of him not retching.
“We should get back to the base… no more running… just walk slow when we’re getting back, okay?” Shiro agreed to this request, he had bullied the zombie enough. They had been moving at a comfortable pace before, the zombie just looking around as Shiro found ways with the least amount of branches on their way. It had been an hour since they left the base so it shouldn’t be long until sunrise. The werewolf let the zombie back on to the saddle and they took off with a steady speed that wouldn’t be too hard on the undead. They hadn’t wandered far, mostly just done circles around the base area, so it wouldn’t take long for the duo to arrive to the shack.
A few branches did scratch the zombie a bit as the wolf miscalculated how much he could dodge, but they got to the shelter unharmed. The zombie was more than happy to hop on the ground, no longer having to swing from side to side as his ride had trotted towards their final destination of the night. The zombie lied down on the wet gravel and breathed a sigh of relief for not vomiting. Shiro, however, made a small puff in annoyance and turned to bite the saddle, trying to tell the zombie to take it off before going to rest.
“Alriiiight, I’m taking it off” he sounded displeasured, but he was only teasing the werewolf. Shiro watched his admirer fumble to open the latch keeping the saddle slightly too loose around his lower chest. As the first cinch was opened, the zombie moved to the next one on the more front of the saddle. Shiro let the zombie do his thing, not bothering to even look at him, he just wanted this saddle off as he had a spot that needed to be scratched under the cushion below the seat.
“Okay! Just the breast collar left and you’ll be free from this thing” he was taking his sweet time and Shiro was getting impatient. He yawned, and realized he was getting tired. The saddle was lifted, though with a bit of struggle as it was heavy, and Shiro shook off the folded blanket they had used as a makeshift saddle pad.
“Hey! The ground is dirty” Shiro didn’t care, as so was the shack’s floor, and started scrabbling the itchy part that was now fully accessible. The zombie put down the saddle to pick up the poor cushion, shook the blanket a bit, and put it on top of the saddle to bring both items back inside. The zombie grunted as the heavy and hard to carry objects were retaliating with gravity. Shiro was satisfied, having gnawed the itch away. But now he felt thirsty after all that running, so decided to head towards the creek again. Shiro knew the zombie would follow after having placed back the saddle, and begun to stroll towards the tiny river.
Branches and tree roots littered the pathway, but the werewolf’s huge size allowed him to walk through it all unphased. The spot they used for fishing, bathing and laundry had long ago been cleared up from any greenery and old fallen branches to make it more spacious, sort of like a tiny beach, and a rope had been put up between two trees for hanging laundry. The only things different about the place now was Shiro’s pawprints and zombie’s footprints on the soft mud and sand from their previous nightly visit to the place. None of their older presences visible due to yesterday’s rain that had washed them away. Shiro looked at those prints and unease creeped up to him.
“I could have died when he shot me” was the only thing the wolf could think of as the unmoved gun laid in front of him.
“Argh… enough thinking and more drinking” and he stepped closer to the water to quench his thirst. Again, he saw his reflection and flinched; he should have expected it by now but he really didn’t want to think about it. His bright red and almost glowing eyes were daunting and demonic to look at, so he closed them and tried his best to drink without looking. It was a hard task since he hadn’t gotten used to canid living, but at least he didn’t have to resort to submerging his entire snout just to get water. The more he drank the more tired he got, almost as if his energy could be drained by just a simple task, which confounded him because not even fifteen minutes ago he had been as energetic as ever. The whole night he had ran and frolicked but drinking was too much? No, it must have been a coincidence and something else was happening. The bushes behind him rustled a bit when the zombie finally arrived to accompany his loved one.
“Didn’t want to wait for me?” asked the teasing zombie, but when Shiro lifted his head and a large amount of water fell from his maw the arrival figured the thirst had probably been worth the hurry.
“… I guess it’s alright then” and the zombie walked up to his furry boyfriend to hug him. He knew Shiro liked hugs so it made the zombie unafraid to do so as suddenly as he did. Shiro returned the hug by placing his head on the zombie’s back, unintentionally covering the man almost entirely in dark fur. The zombie chuckled when the fur tickled his face and he gently rubbed his cheek against it to take in the softness and warmth. Shiro closed his eyes and let the zombie do what he wanted. After a few seconds of this, the zombie was done with hugging, and backed off as he noticed Shiro seemed drained.
“You getting tired?” he softly asked not exactly waiting for an answer. Shiro had gotten so tired by now he couldn’t even think clearly, but he turned to look at the zombie as he knew he cared for him. Zombie was taken by surprise when his wolf shaped boyfriend suddenly gave a small lick on the side of his face and pushed his nose against it.
“S-Shiro?” he tried to get his attention but all he could do is stand there with his face getting redder than a tomato as the werewolf couldn’t even process what he had done. Neither of them noticed that the moon was barely visible anymore, the trees entirely covering it as it descended behind the distant mountains.
Without a warning Shiro’s legs almost gave out when a tingling sensation took over his entire body and his stomach constricted uncomfortably. He backed off from the zombie and collapsed on the ground as the tingling flared up into burning pain.
“Shiro? Wh-what’s wrong?” The zombie started to panic as blood started pouring from the werewolf’s nose and throat as he coughed and wheezed. Bloodlust was making it impossible for the zombie to approach his clearly suffering companion, and so he could do nothing but hold his breath and watch as the wolf started transforming. Shiro’s muscles tensed up and his bones could be heard cracking again as he started shrinking in size. Along with tears, red started dripping from his eyes, and it looked horrifying for the drooling half-dead man watching this hellish phenomenon. Shiro was again experiencing unfathomable discomfort, and his mind was barely holding on to consciousness. He wanted to scream but his throat was not letting him make anything but a gargle as it took longer to shrink than most other parts of his body. He couldn’t breathe and he felt as if he was being crushed to pieces, the fur on him was retreating back into his skin as he kept getting smaller and more human shaped. His throat allowed him to breathe again, but yet he couldn’t make a sound, he had passed out, his mind shielding him from the worst of the pain this time. His heart beat faster than it had ever done before and his breathing harsh and fast. The only reason none of his organs gave out was the curse that did this in the first place, effectively turning him immortal when he was surely experiencing fatal injuries. The zombie was trying to compose himself as he watched the lump of flesh slowly turn into a more humanoid shape. He was tearing up watching this absolute horror happening in front of him, hearing the sounds and smelling everything that was pouring out of the declining shape of muscle, skin and hair. The roughly a minute’s worth of this frightening shift felt like an eternity for the both of them, but at last there was a man laying on the muddy ground, and the zombie felt like he could move closer again.
He didn’t feel as if bloodlust was trying to control his ability to function anymore, since all he thought of was to make sure his one and only was still alive and safe. The zombie had dragged himself next to Shiro’s unmoving body, and tried to shake the man awake.
“Shiro, please! Wake up! T-talk to me… please, I need you…” He started sobbing as he could only feel how sweltering Shiro’s body was to touch. Abruptly Shiro let out a cough and groaned, turning his head towards the zombie and opened his eyes to look at him.
“Grggh… wha-?” He couldn’t even finish saying it as the zombie burst to tears and cried out of relief.
“That was so scary I- I actually- Shiro I’m so happy you’re alive!” The zombie tried to say too many things at once but only succeeded in one of them as he couldn’t stop crying.
“I’m… going to be okay” Shiro said exhausted but starting to regain a bit of energy as he tried to sit up. The zombie tried to stop sobbing and wiped tears from his face as he caught his breath and slightly smiled.
“Ack! Sorry, that was just so… messy, it was scary” zombie now looked at Shiro who rose to not quite lay, but not quite sit either. The both of them now having gone silent.
“…” the zombie realized something:
“OH SHIT MAN- UHH- AAAAAAHH!!! SORRY!” He quickly turned around and covered his eyes, even if he hadn’t exactly seen anything yet.
“Fuck…” was the only thing Shiro could say realizing he was nude, laying in a pool of god knows how many liquids, and his clothes nowhere around him. The zombie tried to think of how to fix this situation and could only come up with one solution, sure he could just go fetch Shiro’s own clothes, but he couldn’t even think of leaving his wounded partner alone in the woods for even a second. So, he clumsily took off his own pants and tossed them at the direction of the man on the ground.
“Just take these while we get back” and also tossed his grey shirt for more coverage. Shiro didn’t say anything, he was too groggy and tired to try come up with his own thoughts so he just did as the zombie ordered. Shiro took a while to put the clothes on, but finally had done it. He remembered to pick up the gun, put it in the left pant pocket, and begun approaching the zombie who still had his back turned on him.
“Okay… I uhh- I think I should have washed up a bit first” Shiro was a bit embarrassed
“It’s just mud, it’s okay” The zombie answered.
“I-It’s not just mud-“
“It’s fine!” Shiro was interrupted as the zombie felt too awkward about all of this.
“… let’s just go then…” Shiro figured he'd have to walk through the woods without shoes, which didn’t seem pleasant, but not impossible as he’d just have to try watch his steps with his poor vision.
“… Cool underwear by the way…” Shiro noticed the plants versus zombies pattern on the zombie’s boxers.
“Can we not.” Zombie didn't want to talk at the moment.
Walking barefoot had been tricky and irritating, but it didn’t take too long for Shiro and the zombie to arrive back at the shack.
“Could you get my clothes for me, please?” Shiro didn’t even have to ask as the zombie was already going for the task.
“Yeah, don’t worry! I’m getting them” the zombie announced as he was darting around collecting the slightly ragged clothes from all over the yard. Shiro stepped inside the shack and noticed one of his socks near the doorway. He picked it up and saw the other one in the squished bed of cushions, picked it up as well, cleaned his feet as best as he could and put them on. His feet were cold and stung, so even if the socks wouldn’t help much Shiro still preferred to put them on. As he found his glasses the zombie came through the doorway carrying the damp clothes and handed them to him.
“I think that’s all… though there’s something really torn up in the blood puddle…” the zombie turned back to look at the puddle of red and scrunched his nose.
“Damn it… I couldn’t remove my underwear… I don’t think that’s salvageable.” Shiro just stared, frozen and disturbed.
“I might have a clean pair in your old backpack, let me go grab it for you.” The zombie scurried up to the bag in the corner and started to dig around.
“Here” the zombie handed the clothing.
“I think I’m going to head outside to let you dress up in peace.” He did as he said he would.
They both sat on the blankets now, with their own clothes, even if they were dirty.
“S-so… what now?” the zombie didn’t know what they would do about this situation.
“I don’t know…” Shiro said as he was trying to hold back tears.
“I’m scared…” the man admitted and sniffled.
“You’re okay! You’re not bleeding and you seem to-“ the zombie was interrupted
“No! I’m… I don’t know how I’m alive, and this place is covered in…” he sniffled more
“… I can’t-” Shiro couldn’t get the words out, he was too tired, traumatized and broken to talk at the moment.
“I understand” the zombie said caringly as he pulled the depressed man into a one-arm hug. Shiro tried not to cry, but couldn’t help himself as he felt the zombie’s care and affection and pushed himself closer to rest his head on the loving shoulder.
“I’m tired” was all he had and needed to say as he drifted off to slumber.
Later when Shiro had taken a good long nap, and woken up in the middle of the day to find the zombie shoveling the blood puddle away with a clothespin keeping his nose shut, he had felt a bit better than when he had fallen asleep. He had joined the zombie in the cleaning up process and it was becoming evening. They were eating a can of baked beans as the washed blankets and clothes were hanging on the rope, being held in place by a few clothespins so possible wind wouldn’t toss them away.
“What if it happens again?” Shiro had tried not to talk about the bizarre event the night before, but it was turning out to be impossible to not talk about.
“Well… don’t you think we’d be a bit more prepared?” the zombie didn’t want to accidentally say anything wrong so he chose his words carefully.
“I guess so” Shiro didn’t think of anything else to add. The zombie was right, they would know what to do, but they needed a plan.
“I remember the first thing I felt after I had turned was hunger… so maybe hunting something before that would be a good idea so I don’t accidentally end up hurting you” Shiro was already making plans for the future.
“Uhm… yes, but do we even know if this is going to happen again?” the zombie unsure to where this conversation should have been taken next.
“If it’s a full moon thing, then yeah…” Shiro hoped it wasn’t every night.
When it was time for bed, Shiro was relieved to not feel anything of the nature he had felt the night before. It was almost peaceful, everything was cleaned to the best of their efforts, and the zombie was no longer uncomfortable due to any blood stench. Of course there was still some smell lingering, but the zombie had built up tolerance and his body could ignore it. The pile of blankets was smaller now, so it was a bit more cramped for the both of them to lay on it. Shiro had just gotten comfortable and had put his glasses to the side and grabbed Vanilla to be next to his pillow.
“Are you sure you want to lay here tonight?” Shiro asked his beloved zombie who laid down next to him.
“Yeahhh, I want to keep a close eye on you, and this spot has a good view of the doorway so I can also do lookout.” He smiled softly, even if he had sharp teeth that made it a bit intimidating. It wasn’t intimidating to Shiro by any means, but seeing such a dangerous creature smile so lovingly was a sight for anyone.
“Okay” Shiro muttered as he opened his arms and gestured the zombie to get into the hug.
“Come here”.
“W-wait you want to-“
“please?” And the zombie couldn’t say anything else as he felt obliged to return the hug. Shiro grabbed the zombie and the zombie wrapped his arms around the tired man. Shiro mumbled something unintelligible that made zombie question him.
“What?” the zombie waited for him to repeat it.
“I love you” was what the half-asleep human could answer.
“I love you too” the zombie snickered as he realized they’d be cuddling the entire night.
“Sleep well” was the final thing he whispered to the already asleep human. The zombie swore to protect the human until his very last breath.